Type

Supermassive

Location

in the constellation Centaurus

Finder Chart

Distance

130 million light-years

Mass

8 million to 10 million times the mass of the Sun

Size

About half the size of Mercury's orbit around the Sun

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of gas

1

This image from the orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory shows a strong "wind"� of hot gas coming from the region around the black hole at the center of NGC 3783. [NASA/PSU]

This document was last modified: February 1, 2006.